Hormone questions.

[GabeB]

Hey everyone, my boy echo is 9 months old and he is finally moving past the "screamy" stage of puberty, but he still loves to taste my hands. He will grab my thumb or something as if he's going to bite, but he never bites hard. I assume this is him testing my dominance but I don't really know what to do in this case. I usually will put him on a perch or in his cage and leave the room for a couple of minutes. I always "no bite" but I don't give him any sort of excited reaction. It doesn't really seem like he plans on stopping this chewing but any tips/help would be super appreciated. Thanks!

 

[saxguy64]

Hello GabeB. At 9 months, he's not past any kind of puberty stuff. He's not there yet. Not saying he's not passing a developmental stage (the screaming phase seems like a known Ekkie right of passage from what I hear), but it's not puberty. The screaming may or may not return during actual puberty. My guy Tucker is a little grabby sometimes as well. Seems to help if I praise when he just puts his beak against me, which he loves to do, and remove/ignore him when he grabs, literally turn my head away from him and wait til he stops if it's attention seeking near my face. If he's grabbing for climbing purposes, that's different. It's definitely a little annoying when he just wants to hold on though. Sometimes, he turns into "Chinese finger trap" where he latches one foot on my shirt, one on a hand, and the beak on the other hand and won't let go. That's usually in the morning when I'm trying to get his breakfast ready. I really believe he just thinks it's funny in an attempted control kind of way.

Anyway, be very consistent in discouraging the grabby beak, since all it takes is one good grab on the face to do serious damage, even if not intended as a bite. Once in a while might seem cute, but not so much if it becomes frequent/acceptable/normal to him. As they say, "stick to your guns." You're on the right track.

By the way, do you have pictures of Echo that you'd like to share? We love pictures here, and IMHO Ekkies are exceptionally photogenic

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[chris-md]

Yep, everything saxguy said. Puberty begins around 1-2 years old depending on what subspecies your boy is.

I’ll also throw in there’s no such thing as “dominance”. This is just a fun personality quirk of your boy.

 

[noodles123]

Make sure you remove any huts/tents/shadowy spaces from the cage and do not allow access to similarly shadowy spaces outside of the cage (e.g., drawers, under furniture, under curtains, pillows/blankets, under clothing etc). Pet on the head and neck only and make sure your interaction isn't all about petting etc --try to make it productive. Also, provide lots of chewing/play (but keep shredding toys to a minimum if you think it's a trigger---it is in many hormonal birds). Same with warm/mushy foods (they can also be triggers).

Birds don't really have "dominance" in the wild per-say..at least not parrots. This is more of a human interpretation as a result of failure to read communication signals that they send us loud and clear--- so just be careful with that mindset. It isn't like a dog where there is an alpha and no bird will be pushed into submission.

Once you bond to your bird and have solid trust established, any bite is either a failure to read the signals, confusion on the bird's part (in terms of what hurts) OR a trained response based on past reactions...with the exception of angry biting which can happen after a trip etc..but you can always tell it's coming lol (so we are back to reading signals).

 

[GabeB]

By the way, do you have pictures of Echo that you'd like to share? We love pictures here, and IMHO Ekkies are exceptionally photogenic

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I'll definitely attach some pictures in this thread. Sadly he isn't a fan of the headscratches though.

 

[saxguy64]

By the way, do you have pictures of Echo that you'd like to share? We love pictures here, and IMHO Ekkies are exceptionally photogenic



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I'll definitely attach some pictures in this thread. Sadly he isn't a fan of the headscratches though.

Totally normal on the scratches. It's an Ekkie thing. Can't mess up the "Doo" you know. If they allow it at all, pretty much front to back is the only option.

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[chris-md]

True!! I can only pet Parker on the head, one finger with the grain. Any attempts beyond that and I lose a finger.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

Our boy (2.5yo) is solidly in puberty - this is the only time I can touch him, and that's on his head, and that action triggers him like crazy. He starts regurgitating and trying to hump me then gets very aggressive, lunging and biting. So I'd say if your baby doesn't like being pet now, don't worry and don't force it